JPH05169660A - Ink jet recording head and apparatus equipped therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To utilize both surfaces of a support substrate of a recording head and to miniaturize therewith furthermore the recording head by providing contact pads on a support body at its one end that is opposite to the other end on which a heater board is arranged. CONSTITUTION:A heater board 2 is placed on a right position on one end of a surface on which adhesive agent is applied, and is fixed to the surface. A wiring substrate 3 constructed of a metallic substrate is placed, with positioning applied to a part thereof, to the other end on the same surface so that a part on which contact pads 4 serving as connecting terminals to be connected to a connecting part are provided can protrude horizontally beyond the surface. The heater board 2 and the wiring substrate 3 are connected with wire bonding 7 or the like. Ink passages and a common liquid chamber are formed by bonding a top board over the heater board, and an ink supply member 6 is connected to the top board, and sealing is made by applying sealing agent made of silicon resin or the like. Then the part of the wiring substrate protruding beyond a support body is bent at an angle of 180 degrees and is bonded to the undersurface of a support substrate 1 after positioning.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a small ink jet recording head which can be detached from, for example, an ink jet recording apparatus main body and an ink jet recording apparatus having the head.

[0002]

BACKGROUND ART Various recording systems are being developed today. Among them, the inkjet recording method in which ink is ejected from an ejection port according to a recording signal to perform recording has been widely used in recent years because it is easy to downsize the device and reduce noise. Many ink jet recording heads used in this ink jet recording apparatus are detachable from the recording apparatus main body for easy maintenance. The supply of ink and the supply of electric signals are performed by, for example, a tube joint, a connector contact terminal, or the like.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are a schematic side sectional view and a schematic perspective view, respectively, showing an example of an ink jet recording head according to a related background art. Here, an inkjet recording head in which ink is ejected by utilizing thermal energy is shown.

On the upper surface of the support plate 1, a heat generating portion (hereinafter also referred to as "heater") of an electrothermal converter that generates heat energy is provided on the surface, and an energy substrate (hereinafter, referred to as "heat source") made of Si or the like is used as a base material. (Also referred to as a "heater board") 2 and a wiring board 9 whose base material is glass / epoxy or the like for transmitting an electric signal sent from the main body of the recording apparatus to the heater board 2 are arranged by adhesion. ing. The heater board 2 and the wiring board 9 are connected by wire bonding 7.

On the upper surface of the wiring board 9, contact pads 4 (hereinafter also referred to as "connecting terminals") which are in contact with and electrically connected to the flexible wiring board of the recording apparatus main body are provided. The ink is supplied from the recording apparatus main body side through the ink supply member 6 into the top plate 5 forming the common liquid chamber and the wall of the ink passage, and is ejected from the ejection port 8.

[0006]

However, since the ink joint portion and the contact pad portion are arranged on the same surface side of the support plate 1, the ink joint portion after the recording head is inserted into and removed from the recording apparatus main body and then attached and detached. There is a problem that the contact pad portion may be contaminated with the ink due to a slight leakage of ink from the ink and contact failure may occur.

Further, in recent years, further miniaturization of the device has been demanded, but the contact pad portion is limited in the number of connection terminals and the pad area, and it is difficult to reduce the area occupied by the contact pad portion. Since the area of the recording head support plate is determined by the total of the heater board portion, the wire bonding portion, and the contact pad portion,
There is also a problem that further miniaturization cannot be easily achieved.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a small ink jet recording head which can solve these problems and can perform stable recording with higher reliability, and an ink jet recording apparatus having the head. To do.

[0009]

An ink jet recording head of the present invention that achieves the above object is provided with a support and a support disposed along the support to eject ink from an ejection port in response to a recording signal. An energy substrate provided with energy generating means for generating energy to be used, and an energy substrate arranged along the support for transmitting the recording signal from the recording apparatus main body to the energy substrate via a connection terminal. A wiring board, and the connection terminal is arranged on the side of the support opposite to the side on which the energy board is arranged.

Particularly, in the present invention, the connection terminal is arranged on the surface of the support opposite to the surface on which the energy substrate is arranged by bending the wiring board by 90 degrees or more.

In addition, the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention includes a support and an energy generating device that is disposed along the support and that generates energy used for ejecting ink from the ejection port according to a recording signal. An energy board provided with a means, and a wiring board arranged along the support, for transmitting the recording signal from the recording apparatus main body to the energy board via a connection terminal, An inkjet recording head in which the connection terminal is disposed on the side of the support opposite to the side on which the energy substrate is disposed, and a mounting member for mounting the inkjet recording head. Is characterized by.

[0012]

According to the present invention, since the contact pad portion is arranged on the side of the support opposite to the side on which the heater board is arranged, both sides of the support plate can be effectively utilized.
Since the area of the support plate can be reduced, the recording head can be further miniaturized.

Further, since the contact pad portion is arranged on the side opposite to the ink joint portion, it is possible to prevent the contact pad portion from being contaminated with ink or being adversely affected by electrical contact.

[0014]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) An ink jet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1A is a schematic side sectional view showing an inkjet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B shows an inkjet recording head on which an ink tank is detachably provided. It is a typical sectional side view. 2A is a schematic perspective view of the inkjet recording head as viewed from the top side, and FIG. 2B is a schematic perspective view of the inkjet recording head as viewed from the bottom side.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the overall structure of the ink jet recording head according to this embodiment will be described. Along with the support plate 1 made of aluminum or the like, the heat generating portion (heater) of the electrothermal converter that generates the heat energy used for ejecting ink is provided on the surface, and the energy substrate whose base material is Si or the like ( A flexible wiring board 3 made of polyimide or polyester, which has a heater board 2 and a connecting terminal (contact pad) 4 for transmitting an electric signal sent from the recording apparatus main body to the heater board 2.
And are provided. The heater board 2 and the wiring board 9 are connected by wire bonding 7.

A first reinforcing plate 301 made of glass / epoxy or the like is bonded and adhered to the back side of the wire bonding 7 between the support plate 1 and the flexible wiring board 3. The flexible portion of the flexible wiring board 3 where the reinforcing plate is not provided is bent about 180 degrees. A second reinforcing plate 302 made of glass / epoxy or the like is adhered to a portion of the back side of the support plate 1 corresponding to the contact pad 4 of the flexible wiring board 3. The contact pad 4 of the flexible wiring board 3 comes into contact with the contact pad of the flexible wiring board of the recording apparatus main body and is supplied with an electric signal.

Ink is supplied from the recording apparatus main body side through the ink supply port 6a of the ink supply member 6 into the top plate 5 forming the common liquid chamber and the wall of the ink passage, and is heated by the heater on the heater board 2. Is discharged from the discharge port 8.

Next, the principal part of the manufacturing process of the recording head in this embodiment will be described.

First, an epoxy-based adhesive or a silicone-based adhesive such as SE9145, SE4410 (made by Toray Dow Corning Silicone Co., Ltd.) is adhered to a necessary portion on one surface of the cleaned support by screen printing or the like. Apply the agent. Although ceramics, glass, or the like can be used as the support, it is preferable to use metal such as Al.

Next, at one end of the surface coated with the adhesive,
One of the wiring boards 3 made of a metal base material is arranged such that the heater board 2 is positioned and adhered and the other end of the same surface where the contact pad, which is a connection terminal for the device, is arranged is projected. The parts are positioned and bonded by a positioning part (not shown).

After that, the connection terminals of the heater board 2 and the wiring board 3 are connected by wire bonding 7 or the like.
Then, an ink path and a common liquid chamber are formed by adhering the top plate on the heater board, and the ink supply member 6 is connected to the top plate and sealed with a sealant such as silicon resin.

Next, the portion of the wiring board that protrudes from the support (the portion on which the contact pad is provided) is bent by 180 degrees, positioned and bonded to the back surface of the support plate 1.

The base material of the wiring board 3 may be any metal (including alloy) capable of withstanding a large bending of 90 degrees or more, and for example, a metal composed of aluminum or copper is desirable. .. In addition, when the metal wiring board is bent to have a radius equal to or less than about 2.5 times the thickness of the wiring board, the wiring may be cracked and broken. For this reason,
It is desirable that this thickness be as thin as possible from the viewpoint of bending, but a certain thickness is required from the viewpoints of shape retention and contact surface flatness. Such a preferred thickness range in this example is 0.5 m.
m or less and 0.1 mm or more.

Further, in FIG. 2B, reference numeral 9 shown is a positioning opening used when the wiring board 3 is bent and adhered, and an opening is also formed in a support body at a position corresponding to the positioning hole of the wiring board 3. , Or a concave portion is provided, and positioning is performed by aligning these positions. However, this positioning may be performed not only by the method of using the opening of the wiring board 3 as described above but also by the shape of the wiring board and the support (for example, the engagement relationship). Further, it is desirable to perform similar positioning on the surface side of the wiring board 3 that is connected to the heater board.

As described above, by disposing the contact pad portion on the side opposite to the side on which the heater board 2 is disposed, both sides of the support plate 1 can be effectively used.
Further, according to this embodiment, the area of the support plate 1 can be reduced, so that the recording head can be downsized. Further, since the contact pad portion is arranged on the side opposite to the ink joint portion, it is possible to prevent the contact pad portion from being contaminated by the ink or being adversely affected by electrical contact.

(Embodiment 2) In Embodiment 1 described above, wire bonding was used to connect the heater board 2 and the flexible wiring board 3, but other connection methods may be used.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side sectional view showing an embodiment in which TAB is used to connect the heater board 2 and the flexible wiring board 3. According to this embodiment, the area occupied by the connecting portion can be further reduced as compared with the connecting portion by wire bonding, so that the area of the support plate 1 can be further reduced and the ink jet recording head can be further downsized.

(Embodiment 3) In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the flexible wiring board 3 is bent about 180 degrees, but the bending angle is not necessarily limited to about 180 degrees. Good.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side sectional view showing an embodiment in which a mold member or the like whose shape can be freely designed is used as the support 11 on which the heater board 2 and the flexible wiring board 3 are arranged.

In this embodiment, the bending angle is between 90 ° and 180 °, which is smaller than that in the above-mentioned embodiment, so that the stress on the bent portion of the flexible wiring board 3 is reduced and the reliability is increased. There is an advantage that the degree of freedom in design related to the position of the contact pad and the bending angle is increased.

An example of an ink jet recording apparatus equipped with the ink jet recording head according to the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of an example of an inkjet recording apparatus.

In FIG. 7, 320 is a platen 324.
An inkjet cartridge head of a replaceable head / ink tank type, which has a plurality of ink ejection ports facing a recording surface of a recording paper (not shown) conveyed above. Three
Reference numeral 16 denotes a carriage for mounting the inkjet recording head 320, which is connected to a part of a drive belt 318 for transmitting the driving force of the drive motor 317 and is provided with two guide shafts 329A and 329B arranged in parallel with each other.
Is said to be slidable. This allows the inkjet recording head 320 to reciprocate over the entire width of the recording paper.

Reference numeral 326 is an ink jet recording head 320.
It is a recovery device that recovers and prevents defective ink ejection from the ink jet recording head 320, and is provided at a predetermined position in the moving range of the inkjet recording head 320, for example, at a position facing the home position. The recovery device 326 caps the ejection port of the inkjet recording head 320 by the driving force of the motor 322 via the transmission mechanism 323. In connection with the capping operation of the ejection port of the inkjet recording head 320 by the cap 326A of the recovery device 326, ink is sucked from the ejection port by an appropriate suction means (not shown) provided in the recovery device 326, or the inkjet recording head. Ink pressure feeding is performed by an appropriate pressurizing unit (not shown) provided in the ink supply path to the ink. As a result, a recovery process is performed in which ink is forcibly discharged from the ejection port and foreign matter such as thickened ink inside the ejection port is removed.

Reference numeral 330 denotes a blade which is disposed on the side surface of the recovery device 326 and is made of silicon rubber and serves as a wiping member. This blade 330 is held by the blade holding member 330A in the form of a cantilever, and the recovery device 32
Similar to 6, the motor 322 and the transmission mechanism 323 operate to enable engagement with the ejection port surface of the inkjet recording head 320. Thereby, for example, at an appropriate timing during the recording operation of the inkjet recording head 320, or after the recovery process using the recovery device 326, or the like.
The blade 330 is projected into the moving range of the inkjet recording head 320,
The ink jet recording head 32
It is possible to wipe off foreign matter such as dew condensation, wetness or dust adhering to the discharge port surface of No. 0.

The driving of the recording paper conveying means, the carriage and the recovery device of the ink jet recording apparatus, the driving of the recording head, etc. are controlled based on the commands and signals output from the control means including the CPU of the apparatus main body side, for example. It

Next, a configuration and an electric circuit of an information processing apparatus incorporating the above-described recording apparatus will be described.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view showing the appearance of an information processing device 604 incorporating a recording device. In the figure, 601 is the above-mentioned printer unit, 602 is a keyboard unit provided with keys for inputting characters, numbers and other characters, keys for giving various commands, and the like.
3 is a display unit including three indicators.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the electric circuit configuration of an information processing apparatus incorporating the recording device.

In the figure, reference numeral 501 is a controller for main control, 502 is a CPU for executing a certain procedure, for example, a CPU in the form of a microcomputer, 503 is an area for expanding text data or image data, an area for work, etc. A RAM provided with 504, a ROM 504 that stores fixed data such as a program corresponding to the above procedure and other font data, and a reference numeral 505 that creates an execution cycle of the CPU 502 and a timing necessary for a printing operation by the printer unit 601. Timer, 506 is CPU
An interface unit that connects a signal from 502 and a peripheral device.

Reference numeral 507 is a controller of the printer unit 601, reference numeral 508 is a head driver for sending recording signals and electric power to the head cartridge 101, and 509.
Reference numerals a and b denote motor drivers that send out signals and electric power necessary for driving the carrier motor 402a and the conveyance motor 402b, respectively. A reference numeral 510 indicates the position of the carrier 102 and determines whether the carrier 102 is at the home position, for example. A carrier sensor 511 for detecting the presence / absence of the recording medium 6 in order to prevent recording to a place other than the recording medium 6 when the recording medium 6 is not inserted or the recording is completed up to the end of the page. It is a paper sensor.

Further, 605 is, for example, FDD, HDD,
An external storage device 512 such as a RAM card is an external interface for communicating with another information processing device or for directly connecting to an internal bus to control peripheral devices.

Although not included in the block diagram of FIG. 9, there is another power supply unit for supplying electric power to the above electric circuit, which includes, for example, a rechargeable battery or a disposable dry battery. Alternatively, there is a converter for AC power supply when the information processing apparatus main body is fixed and used.

The present invention is particularly effective in a recording head and a recording apparatus of the ink jet recording method of ejecting ink by utilizing thermal energy, but other methods, for example, It can also be applied to a recording head of a type that ejects ink using an electrostrictive element.

Regarding its typical structure and principle, see, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, a liquid (ink) is used.
By applying at least one drive signal that corresponds to the recorded information and gives a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, to the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which is held, This is effective because heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter to cause film boiling on the heat acting surface of the recording head, and as a result, bubbles can be formed in the liquid (ink) in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape, because the bubble growth and contraction are immediately and appropriately performed, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 43,
Those as described in 45262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the ejection port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4, which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
The structure using the specification of 459600 is also included in the present invention.

Further, a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium which can be recorded by the recording apparatus is obtained by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification. Although the structure may be one that satisfies the length or one recording head integrally formed, the present invention can more effectively exhibit the above-described effects.

In addition, by being attached to the apparatus main body, it can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and can be supplied with ink from the apparatus main body by a replaceable chip type recording head or the recording head itself. The present invention is also effective when a cartridge-type recording head that is specially provided is used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc., which are provided as a configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention, because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suctioning means, electrothermal converters or heating elements other than these, or preheating means for the recording head. ,
It is also effective to perform stable recording by performing a preliminary discharge mode in which discharge different from recording is performed.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but the recording head may be integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. The present invention is also extremely effective for a device provided with at least one of full color by color mixing.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the liquid ink is used for explanation. However, in the present invention, even an ink which is solid at room temperature is an ink which is in a softened state at room temperature. Can also be used. In the above-mentioned inkjet device, the temperature of the ink itself is 30 ° C. or higher and 70
The viscosity of the ink is generally controlled to be in a stable ejection range by adjusting the temperature within the range of ℃ or less.
Therefore, in such an ink jet device, a liquid ink may be used when the device to which the recording signal is applied is used. In addition, in order to prevent the head temperature from rising due to thermal energy by positively using thermal energy as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or by solidifying the ink while it is left standing In order to prevent the evaporation of the ink, heat energy such as that in which the ink is liquefied and ejected in a liquid state by applying heat energy in response to the recording signal, or the one which has already started to solidify when it reaches the recording medium is used. Inks that have the property of liquefying only by energy can also be used in the present invention.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the contact pad portion is arranged on the side of the support opposite to the side on which the heater board is arranged, both sides of the support plate are effectively utilized. be able to. Since the area of the support plate can be reduced, the recording head can be further miniaturized.

Further, since the contact pad portion is arranged on the side opposite to the ink joint portion, it is possible to prevent the contact pad portion from being contaminated with ink or being adversely affected by electrical contact.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing an inkjet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B shows an inkjet recording head on which an ink tank is detachably provided. It is a typical side sectional view showing.

FIG. 2A is a schematic perspective view of an ink jet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the upper side,
(B) is a schematic perspective view of the inkjet recording head as viewed from the bottom side.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side sectional view showing an inkjet recording head according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side sectional view showing an inkjet recording head according to still another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing an example of an inkjet recording head according to a related background art.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of an inkjet recording head according to a related technology as a background.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of an example of an inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view showing an external appearance of an information processing device incorporating a recording device.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of an information processing apparatus incorporating a recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Support Plate 2 Heater Board 3 Flexible Wiring Board 301 First Reinforcing Plate 302 Second Reinforcing Plate 4 Contact Pad 5 Top Plate 6 Ink Supply Member 7 Wire Bonding 8 Discharge Port 9 Glass Epoxy Base Wiring Board 10 TAB 11 Support

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A support, and an energy substrate provided along the support and provided with energy generating means for generating energy used for ejecting ink from an ejection port in response to a recording signal. A wiring board that is disposed along the support and that transmits the recording signal from the recording apparatus main body to the energy board via a connection terminal, wherein the energy board of the support is arranged. An ink jet recording head, wherein the connection terminal is arranged on the side opposite to the side where the connection terminal is provided. 2. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the connection terminal is arranged on the opposite surface by bending the wiring substrate by 90 degrees or more. 3. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the energy generating means is an electrothermal converter that generates heat energy as the energy. 4. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein an ink passage communicating with the ejection port corresponding to the energy generating means is formed on the energy substrate. 5. The ink jet recording head according to claim 4, further comprising an ink tank for accumulating ink supplied to the passage. 6. A support, and a support provided along the support,
An energy substrate provided with an energy generating means for generating energy used for ejecting ink from an ejection port in response to a recording signal, and a recording apparatus main body arranged along the support body and a connection terminal. And a wiring board for transmitting the recording signal from the recording medium to the energy board, and the connection terminal is arranged on the side of the support opposite to the side on which the energy board is arranged. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a recording head; and a mounting member for mounting the inkjet recording head.